Negav's Underground
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Under construction
The city of Negav is undoubtedly the largest and most impressive structure built by humans in Felarya that managed to persist through time. Being famous and well known across the land, even among giant predators, it's no surprise that humanoids from all over the world are drawn to this place, to and beyond its limits of capacity. This led to the building of an entire city in its shadow, or more precisely, underneath. Slowly but surely, the city of Negav expanded underneath the grounds it rests on, like a plant taking root.
Negav's underground sector is huge and covers most of the expanse of the city over several vertical layers. Most sections are bundled together with long tunnels leading to others areas in order to keep the rest of the surface city on stable grounds. Technically, there are specific areas where people are allowed to excavate more room but those regulations are seldom regarded. The deeper one goes, the more chaotic the tunnels, rooms and structures become, as less accurate maps for orientation exist and less people care to follow rules from above. According to official statistics, the underground population is about as large as the one in Negav's lower tier. However, this only take into account the legal citizens of the city, and most commonly refers to inhabitants of the upper commons. The real number of people inhabiting the underground of Negav, both legally and illegally, is probably several times larger, making the area one of the most populated area of the city. In fact, it's not impossible that more people live underground than in all the surface districts combined, and that's why underground folks often call the surface area of Negav merely the tip of the iceberg. The underground is known to harbor the poorest of the poor. It's not entirely true however, as the population is extremely diverse and range from everyday citizens, who live and work above ground, to people who have lost everything but their lives and seek refuge in places nobody else would want to live. To some, the underground is a hive of scum and villainy that's best be sealed off from the world entirely, to others it's a fascinating place full of different cultures and people, where one could spend their entire lives and yet not see everything it has to offer. However, in most cases those who can afford it try to move above ground at the first opportunity. Living in the underground is widely considered as a social stigma because of the bad reputation of the area. Crime rate is extremely high there and even in the upper commons, those who do not look out for their possessions or watch their backs regularly find themselves robbed or worse. Mercy and Morality become luxuries in a world where most people have so little to spare and, more often than not, the law of the surface is barely worth the paper it is printed on.
Negav's underground is separated into several layers, each serving specific purposes to those who live there, and the ones above. Even though not as precisely separated in reality, they can be roughly be divided into two main levels: The hive and the depths. The hive is considered as an official part of Negav. It is relatively kept intact, connected to Negav's multiple networks of water and sewage. The Depths on the other hand is an unofficial area, whose existence is unknown by most of the surface population. It's a complex network of hidden caverns, derelict tunnels and shafts. To live here is a harsh and brutal existence and for many of the unfortunate souls who were born there, seeing the light of the day one time in their life is nothing but a distant dream.
Contents
Surface Connections
The Upper commons are the highest layer of the hive, and connect to many different staircases leading to the surface, which end in various locations of both the lower tier and the middle tier of Negav, the latter being gated by heavy iron doors and guards, allowing to seal the entrances in case of emergencies. However, the connections between the lower tier and the upper commons are, for the most part open, and rarely guarded, both for the convenience of travel and because they are too numerous. Moreover it gives the citizen below a relative sense of freedom, as there are always some way up that cannot be closed off - serving an important role to prevent panics and keeping the underground population peaceful. It is worth noting, that there are no known connections between the upper commons and the high district, as official building regulations did prevent the underground area to spread underneath the area for stability reasons. It's almost certain however that some secret passageways to and from important places such as the Nexus or the Isolon university exist.
The Hive
Upper Commons
Negavians, who can't or don't want to rent a place in the poor districts of Negav often move down to the upper commons. The place is a large network of subterranean streets, plazas, houses and shops. Several of its richer areas actually look fancier and more pleasant than some of the poor districts above. Most walls, ceiling and floor are made of Takrit, although some more valuable materials are sometimes used as well. It's interesting to note that some underground houses are just a few feet below the surface street, and sometimes even have windows that lead to small shafts in the ground, allowing some amount of sunlight to flow into their rooms. However, most of the light underground is artificial, and a very large amount of magic torches and lamps are scattered throughout the streets and homes of the Upper commons. Some areas are surprisingly spacious, allowing for impressively shaped arches that hold the city above, fancy looking hallways, and houses with actual roofs instead of being carved directly from the walls. Most areas however are simple tunnels and housing districts, made with efficiency in mind. A typical underground house consists of three to four rooms carved into the stone, usually including a kitchen and bathroom with running water supply. For economic reasons, smaller aqueducts are used to allocate water between the households, using gravity rather than pumps to get the water to its destination. Since a new home can easily be connected by carving another branch into the side of an aqueduct, water supply is usually a much lesser issue than getting rid of the used waters. For that reason, there are many public waste-holes around, which allow for easy disposal of dirty water and other wastes, which are directly led into the sewage system, for those who don't have the luxury of a drainage system.
The Upper commons is home to many regular citizens, who go to work, eat and live above ground, just as any Negavian of the surface and might even pay taxes to the city if their income is high enough. Families often live together in one single home, and form tight knit communities with their neighbors within the same street or the same block, as districts are called. The security underground is poor and scarce, forcing many citizen to organize themselves and form militias that watch over a street or a block. If you attack or rob one citizen and get noticed, it is very likely that you will have a whole bunch of armed people after you relatively quickly. The lines between a militia and a gang are often very blurred and can shift rapidly. Many gangs started as civic defense groups that wanted to work to secure a better life in the underground for their people, before becoming hardened and violent themselves and oppressing the people they were meant to protect in the end with protection fees and other mafia practices. Many of those groups looks suspiciously at outsiders and perceive security forces as threats, leading to many outbreak of violence and flash-points. Some of those gangs are so adamant about their self defense, that their blocks resemble more military complexes than residential areas, with few and very well defended entry points. Other blocks take advantage of being near a corridor leading to the surface to demand tolls from everyone who wishes to pass through. From there it's just a small step towards organized crime, and many block gangs quickly seek to control, and partake in everything that is going on in their area of influence, up to the point of taking over other blocks. In a way, it is an invisible war about alliances and control, and many skevols are being made through having the manpower or strategic locations needed to put pressure on others citizen.
The power of the gangs is a fact of life though, and many citizen point that they are necessary for survival as they provide some amount of security. Some tunnels are very dangerous to trespass on one's own, as abductions do happen every few days. When a person disappears, their family will usually soon find a letter, demanding a ransom for the captives' release. In other cases they find them wounded and naked somewhere in a dim lit tunnel, robbed to their last piece of clothing, but at least alive if they are lucky. Some people disappear and are never seen again, usually taken down into the depths below, where they suffer a much worse fate, being forced to work, get killed right away, or sold as slaves to those who can afford a couple of skevols.
Land space in Negav is expensive and hard to come by. Already, many of the poorer residents are being forced onto the streets, evicted by expansion. As Negav is the one "safe" city in Felarya, it's not surprising that most people want to live here. Thus, there is an entire other half to Negav - the Negav Underground. Generally populated by lower income persons, there are a variety of corridors and rooms carved out under the city.
The Pit
A part of Underground Negav, the pit is a large cavern that has an equally large depression in it. The pit was dug out by the inhabitants - at one time there were magnificent crystals growing across the ground - sadly they were consumed in the need for more real-estate. The Pit is a good name - it is generally accepted to be the area where the poorest of the poor live and is often nicknamed the "Skyless city". The area is a mess of shanties and tents, run by an incredible collection of brutal gangs, greedy mobs and ruthless mafias. Life is extremely hard and dangerous in the Pit, and the only law there is that of the dagger or the shotgun. People have started to nail shacks onto the walls of the cavern to give more room. The pit gets deeper as people excavate it for more room. There are even starting to be a few adventurous nekos who have built dwelling that hang from the ceiling ! The only proper "building" in the pit is a shrine to Oth, the Sun God. It's a white building with a series of golden mirrors on the top. In an act of charity, this temple magically radiates stored sunlight during the day. The priests also give donations of food and blankets to the needy, usually along with free scriptures of Oth.
On multiple occasions the government has tried to stop development of the pit, worried that the expansion of the cavern could destabilize the buildings above it. Others worry that something very bad and hungry might be dug up if the Pit is dug too deep. Already, the Pit has the highest rate of unsolved disappearances in the city. Most assume this is just regular murders or people leaving without telling anyone. Others claim that something nasty has already been awakened and when the temple of Oth turns off the light for the night, it comes out to feed on those who won't be missed...
The Lower Market
The Lower Market stands as a sort of shady reflection of the bustling Grand Market District above. It is set in a long wide tunnel, the edges crammed with stalls selling whatever wares are possible and lit by many blue and purple magic lights. The walls are pierced by countless shops and back caves selling varied, and often illegal, goods. The Lower Market is also known as having some of the best prices on Felarya for those who know where to look. The most famous shop is the Selodonna Antique Store. Owned by an elderly neko, this place looks like a junk shop on first glance, housing lots of wares that were discarded or used. However, those who know what they are looking for will find lots of the old stuff has amazing powers and comes from very ancient times. Overall, while the Lower Market may not have the... quality... of the above ground shops, it has a lot of charm and character. Smart shoppers looking for a deal tend to peruse it at regular intervals.
New Chargate Prison
New Chargate is the main prison of the city. Besides smaller holding prisons operated by various governmental groups, most prisoners will end up here, below Felarya. The prison is known as "New" Chargate as the original prison was taken down. This was simply due to the fact that, as Negav expanded, there was less room for buildings, and people thought it ridiculous that the valuable above-ground property be spent on something as unpleasant as a prison. Thus the prison was demolished and relocated underground. To prevent it from taking up too much space underground and becoming too close to other areas, the prison was built vertically - many estimate that the deepest point in the Negav underground is the lowest areas of New Chargate. The prison is essentially a giant open shaft that stretches down into the darkness. The sides are lined with the cells and walkways for the guards and wardens. It is a dark, damp and dismal place. Typically, the only people ending here are criminal that are too dangerous to be left in liberty as blinded ones, and too important to be simply expelled from the city. The lower the level of the prisoner, the more dangerous they are. The very lowest levels also have powerful magical wards on them - this is where rogue and criminal mages are kept. Rumors tell of fallen Magiocrats being held there. Perhaps due to the inmates, or pure magical residue, this lowest area is assumed by all the guards to be haunted. In fact, there is the occasional strange disappearance down here. But whatever the cause, the magical wards keep whatever it is securely below.
- credits to Jaette-troll for the Pit, New Chargate Prison, and Lower market idea and to Amaroq for his revision and rewritting of the entire article.
